A Christmas Horror Story

A fun, weird, oddly high quality anthology film with one of the better, more somber twists out there. One of the best modern Christmas movies in any genre. There's a 20-minute Krampus section that is better than Krampus.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

2/11

Black Christmas (1974/2006)

Both the original and the surprisingly good remake wring out some fun scares from an admittedly staid premise. The inclusion of Christmas adds a neat, nasty bite to proceedings.

Universal Pictures

3/11

Krampus

Maybe not the home run many expected, and actually not really as... adventurous either, but Krampus is still one of the more ambitious comedy-horrors put out there in the last few years.

Chrysalis Films

4/11

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

For a film as flat-out crazy as A Christmas Tale, it still finds room to be genuinely good.

A-Pix Entertainment

5/11

Jack Frost

I remember being traumatized by the VHS cover of this thing when I was a kid. Good enough for me.

Ghost House Underground

6/11

The Children

This bleak-ass, mean little film imagines a Christmas in which the children of a fraught extended family suddenly turn violent without explanation. Unsettling and seriously tense.

Warner Bros.

7/11

Gremlins

Straight-up, there are parts in Gremlins that freak me out to this day. Fun and chilling for the whole fam.

NBC Universal

8/11

Dead End

A surprisingly effective low-budget horror that no one really expected to thrive as much as it did. Horror MVP Lin Shaye is always a great casting choice.

Mars Distribution

9/11

Calvaire

Calvaire's English release title was The Ordeal, which should give you a clue about what kind of horror you're in for. European horror is always bold and bleak, but this one's near the top of the pile in that regard.

Armor Films Inc.

10/11

Silent Night, Bloody Night

A great name for a great film. Silent Night, Bloody Night came out in '72 during horror's golden age (though good news: we're in another one right now), and it shows.

Media 8 Entertainment

11/11

Santa's Slay

A bonkers, silly little film with perhaps the baddest Santa in this entire list.

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